


Get Home

by BetterInFiction



Series: Own Devices [9]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Emotional Hurt, Established Relationship, Hokage Hatake Kakashi, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Missions Gone Wrong, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27911530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetterInFiction/pseuds/BetterInFiction
Summary: I’ve really done it now, Naruto thought with a pained chuckle, blood spattering his chin as he slumped against the wall. He was at the end of his rope. Even Kurama wasn’t talking to him anymore so he knew it was bad. But it was okay, he wasn’t afraid of death. I’m sorry Kakashi, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep my promises this time.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: Own Devices [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1891162
Comments: 7
Kudos: 119





	1. As long as you come home.

_I’ve really done it now_ , Naruto thought with a pained chuckle, blood spattering his chin as he slumped against the wall. He was at the end of his rope. Even Kurama wasn’t talking to him anymore so he knew it was bad. But it was okay, he wasn’t afraid of death, he had died before, though he didn’t think a jutsu or Super Gramps Sage was going to save him this time. _Sasuke should be coming soon,_ he just had to keep moving. _Get up! Come on!_ he urged his legs to move but he just found himself slipping further down the wall as his remaining strength left. _Fuck,_ he tipped his head back, shadows creeping in on the edges of his vision and his hurt didn’t seem so sharp anymore. _Just typical, I do all the work and that bastard gets to swoop in all cool and save the day…_ he smiled to himself.

 _I’m sorry Kakashi, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep my promises this time._ He closed his eyes, feeling a hot tear run down his cooling skin as he pictured concerned dark eyes.

He thought back to the beginning, when the teasing had slowly turned into flirting and comforting touches had started to linger as they found themselves alone with each other more often. He had been pleasantly surprised when Kakashi seemed to get it together and kiss him that first time. He had thought that he would have to use Kurama’s chakra and pin the prickly man down to figure out what was going through his thick head but then Kakashi’s hands were on his face and holding him as if he was going to disappear with the rain. He had grown up with sharp words and cutting looks and going so long without tactile comfort that a touch that gentle was almost terrifying. But it was everything.

He thought of lazy mornings, fingers playing in silver hair, Kakashi a comfortable weight across him. He thought of their fights and how they were both too stubborn for their own good. He thought of shoulders that were slouched from the weight that he carried but were always so strong when he caught him. Kakashi still _always_ caught him.

 _“You make me sound better than I am,”_ Kakashi shook his head in that self-deprecating way of his.

“There you go again,” he smiled, remembering sharing a popsicle on the bench above the village. “For a genius you can be pretty dim sometimes y’know.” 

_“If you say so,”_ gray eyes crinkled at him.

“I’m supposed to be the knuckle-headed idiot here remember? I’m the one who charges in without thinking.” _You told me to wait._

 _“Ah now who’s being self-deprecating?”_ He thought he felt Kakashi’s cool hands on his face, smelled his crisp earth-after-rain scent, felt masked lips brush against his forehead. _“Naruto I…”_ Shit, no, this wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. He didn’t want to be someone else that Kakashi had lost. He was supposed to go home.

 _Kakashi. This wasn’t your fault, you weren’t too late this time, you did what you were supposed to. Please… don’t suffer alone. There’s Sakura, Sai, Captain Yamato, even Sasuke, lean on them, need them. Otherwise, I swear I will kick your ass._ He wanted to laugh but his lungs didn’t seem to want to work anymore. _Please…_

 _“As long as you come home,” Kakashi said, his voice low and serious as it always was when he said this_.

_“Of course, I’ll come home,” he responded in kind._

_“Sasuke will be joining you in four days, so don’t do anything rash until he has your back,” dark eyes flicked back down the mission scroll in front of him and Naruto could tell that the man seemed uneasy._

_“Don’t worry about it,” Naruto smiled cockily, trying to alleviate some of the tension as he sat on the edge of his desk and leaned in for a kiss. “I’m still coming for your job.”_

_“Good,” he said curtly, holding up the scroll and blocking him. “Because I plan on retiring and moving somewhere nice. I hear the Land of Hot Water is lovely this time of year.”_

_“Oi, who are you planning on moving with then?” He scowled._

_“Ah, I’m sorry but there’s someone else,” Kakashi shrugged, turning away from his papers again, that teasing glint in his eye._

_“Oh really?” Naruto drawled unamused, crossing his arms._

_“I didn’t mean for you to find out this way,” he sighed, placing his hands-on Naruto’s thighs as he situated himself between them and leaned in. “He always makes the bed and he’s a big fan of Icha Icha, especially chapter thirty-four in Tactics.” Naruto could feel the man’s smile through the thin fabric against his neck._

_“Well, I hope you and your hand are happy together,” he sniffed archly. “Jokes on you though,” he said when Kakashi pulled away, getting a grip on his white cloak and hauling him in so that their noses were brushing. “I wrote chapter thirty-four.”_

He wanted to ignore how the streaks of blood seemed to shift and change into rivers of red hair. That hair was so pretty but he didn’t want to see it yet. He had somewhere to be. Kakashi was waiting for him, he had promised.

“Aw Naruto.” He leaned into open arms. “Why don’t you tell me about him, huh?”

“You know him,” he mumbled into his mother’s shoulder as gentle fingers carded through his hair.

“Not like you do, kid,” she snorted, hugging him closer. “I knew Kakashi as a brat. A lovable brat, but a brat nonetheless.”

“Now Kushina.” He looked up into the calm blue eyes of his father. “Would you like to tell us?”

“Yeah, okay,” he sighed. “I can’t take very long though.”

“We’ll take what we can get,” she smiled, and Naruto couldn’t help but smile back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote this a long time ago and then I was like Nah on it so I never posted it but here it is. Originally I kinda saw this as being a continuation for Would it be okay if I came home to you? hence the chapter titles.  
> Thanks for reading.


	2. Of course, I'll come home.

This time, it was Sasuke who brought Naruto back to the village.

Kakashi stood at the place he usually hid; it was a beautiful summer day despite his own dark emotions swirling. It had been a while since he had been at the stone, he had more reason to live in the present and think of the future then get lost in his past. He had been here with Naruto last, what seemed like ages ago, squeezed together under an umbrella and reminiscing about those they had lost.

_“We endure, right Sensei?” Naruto grinned sadly up at him and suddenly it felt like they were closer than before. A sense of anticipation sparking in the limited air between them._

_Kakashi knew that they had been moving towards this for a while now, but he had wanted Naruto to be as sure as he was. Now he was slipping down his mask as those blue eyes pulled him in, letting the umbrella clatter to the ground in favor of cupping Naruto’s face. Damn the rain when he had his own sun, warm and shining in front of him and smiling, which was making kissing difficult as his own grin threatened to split his face._

_“Well… about damn time,” Naruto huffed, blonde hair plastered to his forehead._

_“Ah, what can I say?” He shrugged, smiling growing. “I got a bit blinded by the light.”_

_“Shut up,” Naruto laughed brightly as he got a grip in Kakashi’s jacket and pulled him back to him. When they got too cold he made sure that they warmed up inside. Naruto’s warm citrus scent permeating his sheets and mixing together with his like they belonged._

_“Naruto,” Kakashi breathed, the name rolling off his tongue like prayer. His name had meant many things over the years but now it meant_ home _and_ mine _._

His scent was still faintly clinging to his pillow.

Naruto had blown into his being and rearranged everything to fit around him and now Kakashi was trying to fight away the idea of emptiness creeping in.

 _“Of course, I’ll come home.”_ It was a promise made with all seriousness despite the fact that they were ninja, and it was something that neither of them could ever guarantee. But Naruto, with his burning determination and strong will made it impossible to bet against him. They had both known that the mission was dangerous, Naruto and Sasuke had been the ones best suited for it so they had to go despite the uneasy feeling that had roiled in his gut as he assigned it. He was the Hokage now and they were his jounin shinobi… he could not, _would not_ , treat Naruto any differently because he was in love with him. Not that Naruto would ever let him in the first place. But it didn’t make it any easier.

“Are you going to lurk there all day Sasuke?” Kakashi called out, slipping his hands in his pockets. His voice sounding a bit rough in his ears, he had been out here for too long. He should get back.

“You didn’t look like you wanted to be disturbed,” the young man answered, appearing at his side.

“That never stopped you before,” he shrugged. “Did Sakura send you?”

“She doesn’t think you’ll forgive her,” Sasuke stated tonelessly.

“Ah, she was right in the end though,” he said, looking up at the clear azure sky. “Naruto would have brought me back and killed me.” Naruto never would have forgiven him if he had used Lady Chiyo’s jutsu and sacrificed himself for him. But he had been prepared to try. He had told Team Seven long ago that he wouldn’t let his comrades die, and yet his heart caved at the fact that he never seemed able to truly protect those he loved.

“It was a stupid idea. Or did you finally give up on him?” Kakashi bit back a snarl as he saw red, he wasn’t in the mood to be lectured by Sasuke of all people.

 _“Hey! Aren’t you supposed to ignore the bastard instead of letting him get to you?”_ Naruto teased in his mind, quoting his own advice back at him. He sucked in a deep breath, mentally cursing that he let this brat, this _bastard_ as Naruto would say, get to him.

“Now Sasuke, I know you didn’t come up here to pick a fight,” he said tensely.

“Wouldn’t be much of a fight right now,” the young man smirked.

“There’s that famous Uchiha humility,” he chided, picturing the moody pre-teen on the training ground.

“Naruto still has promises he needs to keep,” Sasuke drawled, dark eye watching him. “So do you, try not to run yourself into the ground before then,” he sighed, turning away from the stone. _Maybe I am getting too old for this,_ he thought, bemused to himself. Because Sasuke was right and it pained him to admit it.

“Sasuke,” he said softly before he could disappear. “Thank you for bringing him home.” He didn’t turn to face his former student as the footsteps hesitated. He couldn’t help the small smile as he heard Sasuke make a noncommittal _‘hn’_ before feeling the pulse of chakra.

_You’ve never given up on me Naruto. I can endure this for a little while longer._

“I know you miss him, but I’m sorry Minato-sensei, Kushina, you can’t have him yet.”


	3. To you.

The hospital was dark and quiet when he slipped in through the window. The only noise being the soft rhythmic _whoosh_ and beeping from the machines indicating that the figure in the bed was still, somehow, alive. Kakashi didn’t need to sneak in through the window but it was a bit of a habit with Naruto and he didn’t want the nurses, who reported to Sakura, to know he was there just yet.

“Ah, Naruto if you don’t wake up soon all of your plants are going to be dead,” Kakashi teased, flinging his cloak on the back of the chair before slumping into it. “Of course, you know I’m lying,” he sighed dramatically. “I suppose I could always make you a genin again for disobeying a direct order from your Hokage,” he pondered aloud, looking over the machines indicating Naruto’s life. “I know you’re in there Naruto.” When Sasuke had appeared with him he had been near dead, but either through sheer force of will, Kurama, or some leftover remnant of the Sage of the Six Paths, he managed to hold on. 

_“It’s up to him now on if he wakes up or not,” Lady Tsunade sighed, the exhaustion evident on her frame._

That had been over a month ago now. The season had changed, Sasuke had left again, and the machines etched out their data.

“I’m very serious Naruto, I will put you on desk duty and D-Rank missions until we’re both old and you’re gray. I can be very vindictive, just ask Yamato,” he said, leaning forward to rest his arms next to his on the mattress. He took Naruto’s cold hand in his, Naruto had always complained on the coldness of Kakashi’s hands.

“Oh, I know what I could do,” he mused, trying to massage some warmth into his palm. “I could give you your own genin team. Let you experience some of the hell that you three put me through. But then again, I feel like that would just cause me more problems,” he sighed, this time from exhaustion, bringing his hand to his lips. He hated hospitals and how the smells just dug into everything and made his nose burn. He looked up at Naruto’s face, there wasn’t even a twitch of acknowledgement. Kakashi wanted to shake him, he had seen Naruto in the hospital numerous times, but he had never been this still. Not even after the war and he had slept for a week straight. Stillness and Naruto didn’t go together.

“Hmm, one of these threats has to stick, don’t you think? Feel free to let me know, I’ll just be here, reading and avoiding responsibility.” He let his head rest on the mattress.

* * *

**_Heh, incoming._ **

_Naruto frowned at Kurama’s words, turning toward the window as he felt the familiar presence approaching. He was half tempted to close and lock the window just to see what would happen. Would Kakashi wait for him to cave and open it or actually come through the damn door? He lost the few seconds heads up he had imagining either scenario._

_“There is a door right there y’know,” he chastised as the man materialized, perched on the sill._

_“Yes, it’s a very nice door,” Kakashi drawled, looking over at the balcony door a foot to his right._

_“Maybe you could try using that some time?”_

_“Ah but the view is much nicer from here,” he leered, finally stepping into the apartment. Naruto rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help the smile._

_“Have you eaten yet Pervert?” He asked over his shoulder as he turned toward his kitchen. He wasn’t sure if he had anything edible at the moment, but he knew that, despite his lazy persona, the man had a tendency to work through meals. He didn’t let the arms snaking around his waist distract him from looking in his refrigerator._

_“Mm, not yet,” Kakashi answered, trailing unmasked, featherlight kisses up his throat._

_“Well, I don’t have anything,” he said, trying to keep his voice even as hot breath ghosted over his neck._

_“Don’t you?” He hummed and Naruto shivered at the teeth on his ear._

_“You’re impossible,” he groaned as cool hands worked their way under his shirt, resting comfortably against his stomach._

_“You don’t seem to mind.” He felt the smile against his skin._

_“Okay, but I’m hungry. I’ll let you pick!” he whined, turning in his arms to push the man away slightly._

_“As long as it’s ramen?” Kakashi arched an eyebrow down at him._

_“I’m a man of simple needs,” Naruto grinned up at him. Kakashi heaved a put-upon sigh and let his head drop to his shoulder. Naruto could feel the tiredness radiating off of him, chunin exams were coming up again and he had spent long hours making sure the village and candidates were prepared._

_“It’s amazing you made it to adulthood at all.” Naruto yelped as fingers pinched at his side. “You used to drink expired milk too.”_

_“That was one time! Fine, three times!” He corrected at Kakashi’s look. “But you love me!” He jabbed his finger into Kakashi’s chest._

_“Ah yeah,” Kakashi sighed, a smile playing at his mouth. “I do.”_

* * *

Naruto frowned as his eyes focused on the paneled ceiling. He was dead wasn’t he? So why did this look like a room? He closed them again, feeling strangely disconnected from his heavy body.

He remembered the mission, remembered not waiting for Sasuke like Kakashi had told him to because things had moved faster than they predicted. He remembered the cold darkness creeping in and then the flowery smell of his mother’s hair. So why was he here? He tried harder to get his senses to cooperate and he was able to hear the recognizable beat of a heart monitor, and the hum of some kind of machine. Definitely a hospital, definitely still alive. He sighed, relaxing further in the bed as sleep called again.

Wait, someone was talking...

He kept his eyes closed, trying to decipher the low tones with his muzzy brain. It was familiar. He was supposed to be somewhere right? He had things to do, promises… someone he had to get home to.

“You know Naruto…” he knew that casual drawl. He opened his eyes again, tilting his head toward the speaker. Kakashi was sitting next to him, cloak and vest flung over the back of the chair, familiar green book cracked in his lap.

“I was thinking about what you said about chapter thirty-four and,” he stopped talking, gray eyes met his.

“Good morning,” he rasped, vocal cords giving up halfway through. Kakashi made a strange choked off sound, _Tactics_ dropping to the floor.

“You... you’re unbelievable,” Kakashi said, voice strained as he leaned forward, taking his hand in his. Naruto smiled tiredly at him, giving his hand a squeeze.

“You look awful,” he whispered, he wanted Kakashi to get him some water but at the same time he didn’t want him to leave his sight.

“You should see yourself,” he shook his head, getting up and moving over to the water pitcher. Naruto relaxed against the pillows, still smiling slightly as he felt Kurama grumble tiredly in his subconscious. This was real, they were still here. “Don’t go back to sleep yet if you can,” Kakashi urged, a hand snaking behind his neck to prop him up. He let out a low groan once the cup was empty, the cool water sloshing unpleasantly as the aches of his body became more acute.

“How long have I been out?” He asked, avoiding Kakashi’s eyes, his body was telling him that it had to have been awhile.

“Almost two months,” he hummed as he took his seat again. Naruto felt his long fingers wrap around his own once more and for once Kakashi’s hands felt warm.

“Shit,” he cringed, eyes flicking up to meet his.

“That’s one way to put it,” Kakashi said, his voice low. “Sasuke brought you back. You know, you’re going to give this old man a heart attack if I have to keep seeing you dead.”

“Are you okay?” He could see the dark shadows under his eyes. He could apologize for almost leaving, but he didn’t think the man wanted to hear it. Kakashi shook his head again with a derisive snort.

“I’ll get over it,” he sighed, and he couldn’t quite read the look in his eyes.

“I’ll help,” he smiled suggestively. This time a real laugh bubbled out of Kakashi’s throat.

“Not anytime soon or Sakura will kill us both,” he stood again and slipped down his mask, brushing his lips against Naruto’s forehead, cheek, he turned his head as he reached the corner of his mouth to capture his in a slow, dry kiss. “You should get some more rest,” he said softly, fingertips brushing against his jaw.

“So should you,” he fired back. Kakashi eyed him for a few moments before gently nudging him over to the side of the bed and folding his taller frame around him in the small space. Naruto closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of petrichor, of home. “We’re going to argue about how I didn’t wait later aren’t we?” He sighed out.

“Ah, I may have already assigned you a genin team in retaliation,” Kakashi replied lightly, burying his nose in Naruto’s hair.

“ _A genin team?_ While I was in a coma?” He craned his head to look at the man who at least had the decency to look a little sheepish.

“Or I demoted you and made you the new eternal genin, I forget.” His arms tightened around him.

“Fine, I’ll be the first genin to be Hokage. How does that sound?” He grumbled.

“Hmm, sounds good,” Kakashi sighed, and Naruto could feel the man relax against him. He smiled at the threat; they both knew that it wouldn’t stick once he had recovered.

“I’m home Kakashi.” Kakashi’s hand tightened on his hip and Naruto tipped his head so that their foreheads were brushing.

“Welcome home, Naruto.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno, I think I just wanted to write something moody... before Fix Me With Gold that is...  
> Thank you for reading! I'ma go try and work on everything else now.
> 
> Feel free to yell at me on tumblr: betterin-fiction


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